Market: Stocks to open in green as trade tensions ease

US stocks are set to open higher after ending mixed on Friday, as investors are hoping that the trade tensions would dissolve following the US-China talks scheduled for this week. The S&P futures rose 0.12% to 2,732.75, Dow futures advanced 0.21% to 24,874, and Nasdaq gained 0.19% to 6,973 at 8:30 am ET. Elsewhere, shares at Asian markets closed higher on Monday, and European stocks are trading mostly in the red.

On the European economic front, data from the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic showed that Slovakia’s consumer price inflation accelerated 2.9% on year in April after rising 2.4% in March. Statistics Finland report revealed that Finland’s consumer prices rose 0.8% on year in April, the same rate of increase as in March. Hellenic Statistical Authority data showed that Greece’s import prices increased 5.3% on year in March after rising 3% in February.

Hungarian Central Statistical Office report revealed that Hungary’s industrial production growth slowed to 1.9% in March from 4.1% in February. National Institute of Statistics data showed that Romania’s consumer price inflation accelerated 5.2% in April from 5% in March. Swedish Public Employment Service/AMV report revealed that Sweden’s unemployment rate remained unchanged in April at 3.83%. Bank of France survey showed that France’s manufacturing sentiment index fell slightly to 102 in April from 103 in March.

On the Asian economic front, data from the Ministry of Commerce & Industry showed that India’s wholesale price inflation accelerated to 3.18% in April from 2.47% in March. Bank of Japan data revealed that producer prices in Japan rose 0.1% on month in April after falling 0.1% in March. BusinessNZ survey showed that services sector in New Zealand fell to 55.9 in April from 58.6 in March.

On May 11, US ended mixed, with Dow up 0.37% to 24,831.17. S&P 500 rose 0.17% to 2,727.72, while Nasdaq ended down 0.028% to 7,402.88. Traders were concerned about the future of drugmakers after President Donald Trump outlined his plan to lower drug prices. The president would seek to raise competition in drug markets, develop new incentives for drugmakers to reduce list prices and develop options to reduce patients’ out-of-pocket spending.

A Labor Department report showed that import prices rose 0.3% in April after declining 0.2% in March, and export prices increased 0.6% in April after rising 0.3% in March. A University of Michigan report showed that preliminary consumer sentiment index for May remained unchanged from the final April reading at 98.8.

Meanwhile, no key economic events are scheduled for today. Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester will be giving a speech at the Global Interdependence Center’s central banking series in Paris, France. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard will speak about cryptocurrencies at the CoinDesk Consensus 2018 conference in New York.

Key companies reporting earnings today include Voxx International (VOXX), CDTI Advanced Materials (CDTI), Alta Mesa Resources (AMR), Agilent Technologies (A), and Altair Engineering (ALTR).

On the corporate front, Xerox (XRX) stock fell 5.70% in the premarket after it said it would abandon its merger deal with Fujifilm Holdings. Dean Foods (DF) stock declined 1.91% after brokerage firm Deutsche Bank downgraded the shares to “hold” from “sell”.

Crude oil futures are up 0.06% to $70.74. Gold is trading down 0.12% to $1,319.10, and silver is down 0.58% to $16.66. On the currency front, the US dollar is trading up 0.11% at 109.50 yen. Against the euro, the dollar up 0.37% to $1.1985. Against the pound, the dollar is up 0.33% to $1.3585.